Warrior General Games

Back from excessive holiday absence and inactivity! Good timing too, as we've got a fun set of ladder matchups today with only really a couple of clunkers.

Here's your top 10 breakdown for today:

#1 Air Raid(16-1) vs #5 New Jersey Generals(12-5)
- New Jersey continues to play solid bortball this season despite many players moving into Legendary status and shedding chemistry. They're unlikely to be able to hang on to their typical top 5 status as things move forward this season. Air Raid's the obvious pick here. Perfect chemistry defenders struggle enough to stop the passing attack as it is. Low chemistry defenders aren't going to be able to hang.

#2 Portland Ronin(12-5) vs #6 Harrisonburg Bulldogs(13-4)
- This one's already been played at press time. Harry won 29-10. Portland's been hanging onto a top 2 slot this season, but it's getting precarious with the losses mounting. I'd say this one played out pretty much how one would've expected. I think Portland is a top 10 type team at this point. I think Harry is probably the 4th or 5th best team right now. Harry's probably already lost the 4 games they're going to lose this season, excepting playoffs.

#3 The Salty Runback(15-2) vs #22 Seneca Hands of Fate(9-8)
- Booo. And the matchups were gong so well. Seneca is outmatched here. TSR wins handily. Salty's winning a bunch this season so far. Big league game coming up against Air Raid later this week.

#4 Minnesota Stunners(16-1) vs #17 New York Nightmare(12-5)
- Minnesota is on a tear this season. Statistically, they're just murdering the game. They did drop a game to MMArmy earlier this season, but MMArmy is playing top 5 caliber bortball so far IMO too. Obviously, Minnesota is one of the best teams in the game as well. New York is a vastly improved team this season, and playing much better overall. Even competitive with top 10 teams. They definitely deserve their top 20 type ranking, and are arguably playing top 15 ball right now. Buzzsaw week for them though. They are likely to be unable to contain the Stunners. Stunners win going away.

#7 Louisiana Screaming Pelicans(14-3) vs #14MMArmy Can Crushers(17-0)
- Louisiana is having an excellent season so far, dropping games only to top 5 competition. They get another tough game this week against a top 5 team disguised as a top 15 type team. MMArmy hasn't lost yet this season, and is rapidly ascending the ladder as they should. Louisiana presents an interesting test for them. Probably the best passing attack they'll have seen so far in regular play this season. I wouldn't be surprised if this one goes higher scoring like their win over Harrisonburg earlier this season. I'm picking MMArmy because I know they're an actively coordinated bunch, and I expect they'll put something together to overcome the Pelicans. MMArmy plays sneaky good defense. Maybe as good as TSR on the whole. Only Harrisonburg has been able to put up over 30 points against them this season.

#8 Stark Direwolves(11-8) vs #25 D'Haran Empire(15-2)
-Stark has been up and down this season with some impressive wins (Salty, Portland) and a head scratching loss (Dookie). The net result is their a lower half top 10 team so far, and that's probably about where they belong. Starks been recovering in a few spots on chemistry, and has a couple of Professionals, so it's likely this team can be a little bit better next season than they are right now, but the top 5 is probably still out of reach ultimately. D'Haran is an interesting challenge. Probably an eventual top 10-15 team themselves, D'Haran's been consistently doing some ladder climbing this season. They're getting tough matchups now though. We'll see what D'Haran is made of as Stark will test their mettle for sure. The hardest matchup so far for D'Haran was against Ellix, and they struggled a good bit in that one. Of course, Ellix also beat Air Raid earlier this season, so they're capable of playing at an elite level at times themselves. I'm picking D'Haran in an upset.

#9 Cobra Kai(11-6) vs #16 Brisbane Bogans(4-13)
-Brisbane's freefall continues. Cobra gets a week off to accumulate some chemistry unchallenged. The Kai underwent one of the bigger offseason overhauls, and teams that caught them early are probably pretty fortunate. With most of the roster almost to 90 chemistry, we're going to start to see if this is a team that will challenge the top 5 again like they were able to do last season. They're almost certainly a top 10 team for the foreseeable future, and likely to inch towards the top 5 by the end of the season. Kai should win this one easily.

#10 Andes Chinchillas(11-6) vs #20 Rusty's Ruins(7-9-1)
- Welcome to the top 10 Andes! Another game that's already been played this morning, Andes won 42-32. Andes was a longtime top 10 mainstay amongst the Season 2 teams on the way up the ladder, and have now arrived on the overall top 10. That said, this is probably pretty close to their ceiling. I really feel like they're a top 15 team ultimately this season, but next season is more interesting with the roster overhaul finishing up. They'll have some work to do on some legends player replacements. With an ideal and full roster, probably a top 10 team on the whole. Rusty's is struggling this season following their own roster overhaul, but they were always going to be a season away. They'll challenge top 15 squads again next season with their pro's turned veteran and chemistry recovered.

Other stuff:

Top 15 is looking pretty good these days. Brisbane is about to finally exit, clearing the way for New York or Ministry to shore up the rankings to look better overall.

Outside the top 15, I think the most interesting teams to watch right now for this season are Rhode Island Falcons, D'Haran Empire, and DC Corrupt Politicians. D'Haran is within striking distance of getting top 10 matchups in the ladder now, and they're a nasty heavy rushing attack to face. Rhode Island is Adderfist's baby, and features his typical nasty defense anchored by a heavy S* D-line. They're also feature a top 5ish passing attack in the game right now. With a pro TE and some chemistry to recover, they'll be better next season too. DC is rolling out a high powered passing attack, but is still searching for an identity on defense. They play a buunch of shootouts right now. Reminds me alot of Air Raid 2 seasons ago, or Louisiana. I figure they're eventually a top 20 team, possibly a top 15 team. They're some roster refinement away from being a big time top 10 contender.

If the 3 above teams can push into the top 20 range by the end of the season, it'd give the season 3 squads 5 teams in the upper echelon of the game.

Nice work as usual. Some interesting matchups indeed. LSP should be a great test for us. Hopefully we come out on top

This is actually Andes last season, our core is going to hit legend and it was originally Hosdude's baby so we decided to make some noise this season and go out in typical Andes fashion.

I'd agree with the ascent of Rhode Island Falcons, Dhara, and DC. Of the group I think DC has the hardest time because of their zone heavy defensive choices.

good write ups, just an fyi i didnt even scout for the offense on this one so we'll see how it goes. i think robs d should be more than enough to pull this one out for us though. gl

Originally posted by Galithor
I'm picking MMArmy because I know they're an actively coordinated bunch, and I expect they'll put something together to overcome the Pelicans. MMArmy plays sneaky good defense. Maybe as good as TSR on the whole. Only Harrisonburg has been able to put up over 30 points against them this season.

Good call.

Although Rob held the Pelicans to 17 pts, Sov's lolbooks put up 66 points and 735 passing yards. Lordy. Starting low on the ladder due to shuffling into Vet has been good on keeping MMA the only undefeated team left in GLB2. That second division game vs TxSteve is beginning to loom however. Of course we still have league games left vs DC, Cobra Kai rematch, Minnesota Stunner rematch, on top of any top 5 ladders we draw. I wouldn't say this season is a dream, it's more like a nightmare we actually have working legs in.

I think everyone is pulling for MMA to be perfect at this point. Amirite?

Great write up as usual galithor. I appreciate the positive comments about the Nightmare. We are still trucking on. Actually surprised by my group this year. Took a lot of recruiting to pull em together, but seems to have paid off overall.

Originally posted by Sov88
good write ups, just an fyi i didnt even scout for the offense on this one so we'll see how it goes. i think robs d should be more than enough to pull this one out for us though. gl

You'd be depressed to hear how much effort I put into Air Raid's offense since hitting veteran.

Originally posted by DeeVee8
I think everyone is pulling for MMA to be perfect at this point. Amirite?

It'd be a cool story. They better dodge us though. We crushed Hawaii's dream last season, and we'll crush MMArmy's dream too!

Originally posted by Galithor
Rusty's is struggling this season following their own roster overhaul, but they were always going to be a season away. They'll challenge top 15 squads again next season with their pro's turned veteran and chemistry recovered.

We will challenge but I really need some superstars at wide receiver and/or TE to do any real damage at this point. It definitely shows.

Stark VS. D'Haran I'll definitely be watching was in a league with these 2 teams for a few seasons before resetting to rookie. Both teams are full of good agents and talent, not picking either to win just have a feeling it'll be a hell of a game.

Originally posted by klocc1
Stark VS. D'Haran I'll definitely be watching was in a league with these 2 teams for a few seasons before resetting to rookie. Both teams are full of good agents and talent, not picking either to win just have a feeling it'll be a hell of a game.

happened yesterday. Go watch the replay